2016 presidential candidates on defunding Planned Parenthood
Date: November 8, 2016 |
Winner: Donald Trump (R) Hillary Clinton (D) • Jill Stein (G) • Gary Johnson (L) • Vice presidential candidates |
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This page was current as of the 2016 election.
After the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released a series of secretly recorded videos that showed employees of Planned Parenthood discussing research conducted on aborted fetal tissue, videos that Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards called "heavily edited" and "fraudulent," a group of conservative Republicans pledged not to vote for any legislation that continued to allocate federal dollars to the reproductive healthcare organization.[1][2][3] Despite Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, Congress avoided a government shutdown by passing legislation to keep the government funded until December 11, 2015, that included funding for Planned Parenthood.[4]
See below what the 2016 presidential candidates and their respective party platforms said about the $500 million in annual federal funding that Planned Parenthood received while they were on the campaign trail.
Interested in reading more about the 2016 candidates' stances on issues related to Planned Parenthood funding? Ballotpedia also covered what the candidates said about abortion rights, healthcare, and budgets, plus in-depth coverage of the Republican effort to defund Planned Parenthood.
OVERVIEW OF CANDIDATE POSITIONS | |
Democratic candidate
Hillary Clinton
- On September 18, 2015, Hillary Clinton sent the following tweet about protecting funding for Planned Parenthood:
- During a September 2015 interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Clinton declined to respond to Carly Fiorina's challenge to watch all of the footage released by the Center for Medical Progress about Planned Parenthood. Instead, Clinton focused on the Republican effort to defund Planned Parenthood and the possible government shutdown. She said, "I would hope that the Republicans — and particularly the Republicans in the House, led by Speaker (John) Boehner — would not put our country and our economy in peril pursuing some kind of emotionally, politically charged, partisan attack on Planned Parenthood to shut our government down. I think that would be a very, very unfortunate decision. ...If they want to shut down the legal provision of abortion services, then they've got a bigger problem, because obviously Planned Parenthood does not use federal dollars to do that."[5]
- Read more of Hillary Clinton's public statements on 2016 campaign issues.
The 2016 Democratic Party Platform on supporting Planned Parenthood | |||
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Republican candidate
Donald Trump
- On December 1, 2015, Donald Trump said that as president he would defund Planned Parenthood and look at overturning Roe v. Wade. He said, “The other, you’re gonna need a lot of Supreme Court justices, but we’re gonna be looking at that very, very carefully, but you need a lot of Supreme Court judges. But defund yes, we’re going to be doing a lot of that.”[8]
- During an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press on November 29, 2015, Trump dismissed the idea that the current debate about Planned Parenthood’s fetal tissue practices caused a man to murder individuals at a Colorado Planned Parenthood, instead calling the tragedy the act of a mentally disturbed individual. He said, “I think it's terrible. I mean, terrible. It's more of the same. And I think it's a terrible thing. He's a maniac. I think he's a sick person. And I think he was probably a person ready to go. We don't even know the purpose. I mean, he hasn't come out, to the best of my knowledge, with a statement as to why it happened to be at that location. ...This was a man who they said prior to this was mentally disturbed. So, he's a mentally disturbed person. There's no question about that.”[9]
- Trump also commented on edited, undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress that show individuals associated with Planned Parenthood discussing the procedures and sale of aborted fetal tissue. He said, “Well, I will tell you there is a tremendous group of people that think it's terrible, all of the videos that they've seen with some of these people from Planned Parenthood talking about it like you're selling parts to a car. I mean, there are a lot of people that are very unhappy about that. I see a lot of anxiety and I see a lot of dislike for Planned Parenthood. There's no question about that.”[9]
The 2016 Republican Party Platform on opposing Planned Parenthood funding | |||
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Green candidate
Jill Stein
- Ballotpedia is unaware of any public statements made by Jill Stein on defunding Planned Parenthood.
- Read more of Jill Stein's public statements on 2016 campaign issues.
The 2016 Green Party Platform on reproductive rights | ||||||
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Libertarian candidate
Gary Johnson
- Responding to a question about the government having a role in protecting the right to choose during the June 22, 2016, CNN Libertarian Town Hall, Johnson said, "I think Republicans, really, they alienated a lot of people when they stopped—when they talk about de-funding Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood does a lot of good, and that starts with women's health."[12]
- In an interview with Larry King on February 18, 2016, Johnson said, "Look, [Republicans] want to spend more money on military but they want to cut it from social programs, from health care. Look, it's got to be a balanced approach when it comes to government spending with regard to everything. Am I opposed, I'm opposed to cutting the funding, or eliminating funding, to Planned Parenthood. Look, but Planned Parenthood has to take cuts just along with everybody else or we're going to find ourselves in a really perilous situation."[13]
- Read more of Gary Johnson's public statements on 2016 campaign issues.
The 2016 Libertarian Party Platform on abortion | ||||||
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Withdrawn candidates
Republicans
- Jeb Bush on defunding Planned Parenthood
- Ben Carson on defunding Planned Parenthood
- Chris Christie on defunding Planned Parenthood
- Ted Cruz on defunding Planned Parenthood
- Carly Fiorina on defunding Planned Parenthood
- Lindsey Graham on defunding Planned Parenthood
- Mike Huckabee on defunding Planned Parenthood
- Bobby Jindal on defunding Planned Parenthood
- John Kasich on defunding Planned Parenthood
- Rand Paul on defunding Planned Parenthood
- Marco Rubio on defunding Planned Parenthood
- Rick Santorum on defunding Planned Parenthood
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 2016 Presidential candidates on defunding Planned Parenthood. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ HeritageAction.com, "Defund Planned Parenthood," accessed September 9, 2015
- ↑ The Guardian, "Planned Parenthood says covertly filmed videos were heavily altered," accessed September 14, 2015
- ↑ YouTube.com, "Planned Parenthood: Cecile Richards' Official Video Response," accessed September 14, 2015
- ↑ Congress.gov, "H.R.719 - TSA Office of Inspection Accountability Act of 2015," accessed October 2, 2015
- ↑ CNN.com, "Clinton rushes to Planned Parenthood's defense amid shutdown talk," accessed September 19, 2015
- ↑ Democratic Party, "The 2016 Democratic Party Platform," accessed August 23, 2016
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Boston.com, "Donald Trump says if elected he would look ‘very, very carefully’ at Roe v. Wade," December 1, 2015
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 The Hill, "Trump: Planned Parenthood shooting suspect a ‘maniac,'" November 29, 2015
- ↑ Republican Party, "The 2016 Republican Party Platform," accessed August 23, 2016
- ↑ Green Party, "The 2016 Green Party Platform on Social Justice," accessed August 23, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "Transcript: CNN Libertarian Town Hall moderated by Chris Cuomo," June 22, 2016
- ↑ Rolling Stone, "Why You Shouldn't Vote for Gary Johnson," August 23, 2016
- ↑ Libertarian Party, "The 2016 Libertarian Party Platform," accessed August 23, 2016
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